Author Topic: LAXtraveler's July/August 2011 Trip Planning Thread  (Read 13037 times)

Offline LAXtraveler

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LAXtraveler's July/August 2011 Trip Planning Thread
« on: January 31, 2011, 03:24:00 PM »
Rough sketches of a trip I am putting together for this summer look good. We are going to be spending a little over a week in Russia (including 9 of Ab) followed by a few weeks in Europe (where we will be travelling by train and/or car) and then returning back to LAX. This is the current itinerary I have on hold using a oneworld RTW award for 180,000.

July 31: American LAX-SFO 1st (M80)
July 31: Cathay SFO-HKG 1st (744)
August 2: Cathay HKG-DME Bus (343)
August 10: British DME-LHR Bus (767)
August 31: British LHR-LAX 1st (744)

On August 31 I have the possibility of 1st on American (777) instead of British which will save me about $200/pp but I am not sure it is worth the savings when I can have the service/comfort of 1st on British. Also, the British flight leaves 5 hrs. later in the day giving me much more time to arrive back from wherever in Europe I happen to be.

Any other suggestions, comments, etc. are welcome.
« Last Edit: January 31, 2011, 03:59:41 PM by Dan »

Offline Dan

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Re: July/August Trip Planning
« Reply #1 on: January 31, 2011, 03:32:16 PM »
Awesome!

Stick with BA F.  Arrange kosher food in HKG and LHR lounges.
No time to stop in HKG?
You can stick in another city, still have 1,271 miles to play with :)
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Offline LAXtraveler

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Re: July/August Trip Planning
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2011, 03:40:30 PM »
Awesome!

Stick with BA F.  Arrange kosher food in HKG and LHR lounges.
No time to stop in HKG?
You can stick in another city, still have 1,271 miles to play with :)

I figured BA F would be more worthwhile.

Will definitely try to arrange kosher in HKG and LHR... thanks for the tip!

We are supposed to be going to Russia with some other family members and then breaking away from them for the Europe portion which is why I don't think we will have tim in HKG. Is it worth it to skip a day with the family and spend it in HKG? What types of things are there to do/see?

I know we have more miles to go, just not sure we have time/need to fly anywhere else. Maybe from DME-LHR-CDG since that is likely our first stop in Europe?

Offline Dan

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Re: July/August Trip Planning
« Reply #3 on: January 31, 2011, 03:49:38 PM »
Lots to do in HKG...gotta just get into the mood of typing up trip notes for hours on end.

LHR to CDG, FRA, ZRH, MXP, AMS, BRU, etc. and back to LHR would all work for keeping under your 20K mileage budget.
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Offline LAXtraveler

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Re: July/August Trip Planning
« Reply #4 on: January 31, 2011, 03:52:56 PM »
Lots to do in HKG...gotta just get into the mood of typing up trip notes for hours on end.

LHR to CDG, FRA, ZRH, MXP, AMS, BRU, etc. and back to LHR would all work for keeping under your 20K mileage budget.

Alright, so if you post trip notes on HKG fast enough maybe my mind will be changed.

What about going from DME-LHR(x)-CDG [open jaw]... ZRH-LHR-LAX? I am still under 20k, but will they let me do that routing?

Offline Dan

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Re: July/August Trip Planning
« Reply #5 on: January 31, 2011, 03:59:00 PM »
Alright, so if you post trip notes on HKG fast enough maybe my mind will be changed.

What about going from DME-LHR(x)-CDG [open jaw]... ZRH-LHR-LAX? I am still under 20k, but will they let me do that routing?
Sure!
Just remember that you can't make any routing changes after ticketing.
And it's very difficult to change a stopover to a connection or vice-versa.
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Re: July/August Trip Planning
« Reply #6 on: January 31, 2011, 04:00:07 PM »
Sure!
Just remember that you can't make any routing changes after ticketing.
And it's very difficult to change a stopover to a connection or vice-versa.

You mean right now before ticketing it will be hard to change my stopover to a connection or only after ticketing it is more difficult?

Offline Dan

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Re: LAXtraveler's July/August 2011 Trip Planning Thread
« Reply #7 on: January 31, 2011, 04:02:32 PM »
You mean right now before ticketing it will be hard to change my stopover to a connection or only after ticketing it is more difficult?
Before ticketing you can do whatever you want.
After ticketing it's hard to get an agent to change a stopover to a connection and even if you do it may get rejected in the ticketing process which will be a headache to fix.

All the more complicated by the fact that the agents themselves never seem to know if a connection is 6 or 24 hours.

That being said I managed to do it several times, but it also involved jeopardizing the entire trip, but it can be done.
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Re: LAXtraveler's July/August 2011 Trip Planning Thread
« Reply #8 on: January 31, 2011, 04:06:24 PM »
Before ticketing you can do whatever you want.
After ticketing it's hard to get an agent to change a stopover to a connection and even if you do it may get rejected in the ticketing process which will be a headache to fix.

All the more complicated by the fact that the agents themselves never seem to know if a connection is 6 or 24 hours.

That being said I managed to do it several times, but it also involved jeopardizing the entire trip, but it can be done.

Awesome! I am going to give them another call to see what I can do about changing up the itinerary a bit.

Also, if I am arriving in F but departing in J (because there is no F offered on my next flight) will I get access to the F lounge areas in HKG or will they relegate me to the J ones?

Offline Dan

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Re: LAXtraveler's July/August 2011 Trip Planning Thread
« Reply #9 on: January 31, 2011, 04:09:30 PM »
Awesome! I am going to give them another call to see what I can do about changing up the itinerary a bit.

Also, if I am arriving in F but departing in J (because there is no F offered on my next flight) will I get access to the F lounge areas in HKG or will they relegate me to the J ones?
You can use the F lounge, no problem.
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Re: LAXtraveler's July/August 2011 Trip Planning Thread
« Reply #10 on: January 31, 2011, 04:28:25 PM »
Before ticketing you can do whatever you want.
After ticketing it's hard to get an agent to change a stopover to a connection and even if you do it may get rejected in the ticketing process which will be a headache to fix.

All the more complicated by the fact that the agents themselves never seem to know if a connection is 6 or 24 hours.

That being said I managed to do it several times, but it also involved jeopardizing the entire trip, but it can be done.

Updated itinerary (HT: Dan for suggesting changes)

July 31: American LAX-SFO 1st (M80)
July 31: Cathay SFO-HKG 1st (744)
August 2: Cathay HKG-DME Bus (343)
August 11: British DME-LHR Bus (767)
August 11: British LHR-CDG Bus (320)
August 31: British ZRH-LHR Bus (319)
August 31: British LHR-LAX 1st (744)

Total mileage (according to GCM): 19,432 miles flown

Note: I tried pushing to allow a 40 min layover in LHR to get from my DME to CDG flight on 8/10, but the agent told me she couldn't override the minimum 60 minute rule in the system. No worries though, because the flight on 8/11 is first thing in the morning anyway.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions, etc. welcome as always...

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Re: LAXtraveler's July/August 2011 Trip Planning Thread
« Reply #11 on: January 31, 2011, 04:33:36 PM »
Can't imagine an LHR connection in under 60 minutes!

Anyway it's looking great, CDG and ZRH are awesome.
Shame that all those BA flights will cost $$$ because of the new rules though.  And those pesky LHR fees.
How much is the total tax+fees?

Can you leave the week before to HKG?  We had a blast there on Shabbos and the Sunday BBQ at the JCC is not to be missed!
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Re: LAXtraveler's July/August 2011 Trip Planning Thread
« Reply #12 on: January 31, 2011, 04:38:03 PM »
Can't imagine an LHR connection in under 60 minutes!

Anyway it's looking great, CDG and ZRH are awesome.
Shame that all those BA flights will cost $$$ because of the new rules though.  And those pesky LHR fees.
How much is the total tax+fees?

Can you leave the week before to HKG?  We had a blast there on Shabbos and the Sunday BBQ at the JCC is not to be missed!

Unfortunately we can't leave any earlier than the 7/31 (I tried getting the midnight flight on 7/30, but alas no availability).

My total in taxes and fees are about $600/pp - not too bad considering I don't even touch Y anywhere on my itinerary. The agent told me it would be about $200 less for the AA nonstop home, but like you said earlier, probably not worth it anyway. To be honest $1200 total for 2 people in F/J RTW is something I can stomach. Hopefully it will all work out.

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Re: LAXtraveler's July/August 2011 Trip Planning Thread
« Reply #13 on: January 31, 2011, 04:43:25 PM »
9 days is a long time in moscow. hope your planning on going to st petes

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Re: LAXtraveler's July/August 2011 Trip Planning Thread
« Reply #14 on: January 31, 2011, 04:46:39 PM »
9 days is a long time in moscow. hope your planning on going to st petes

Yes we are, and perhaps a couple other small stops in between. I am not responsible for planning the Russia portion of the trip as I am "tagging along" for it. I just wanted to get there on my own to try and treat myself to a nicer mode of transportation.

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Re: LAXtraveler's July/August 2011 Trip Planning Thread
« Reply #15 on: January 31, 2011, 05:03:46 PM »
I see too often LHR in that itinerary.
Each connection via LHR is @ least $150.

I would make another stop in asia, and those few cities in europe I will do by train, or if booked right, by plane, for a decent price.

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Re: LAXtraveler's July/August 2011 Trip Planning Thread
« Reply #16 on: January 31, 2011, 05:07:30 PM »
I see too often LHR in that itinerary.
Each connection via LHR is @ least $150.

I would make another stop in asia, and those few cities in europe I will do by train, or if booked right, by plane, for a decent price.

The only other option is to remove the LHR-CDG and the ZRH-LHR routing and figure out to get from and then back to LHR while spending the rest of the month travelling in mainland Europe. Going from DME back to HKG only to go to CDG just seems like a big waste of time - I would rather cough up a little more cash then waste 2 days flying back and forth to avoid $150. If oneworld had an airline to get me to CDG otherwise then I would do it... perhaps flying IB is better? Although I can't imagine their hard product being all that good.

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Re: LAXtraveler's July/August 2011 Trip Planning Thread
« Reply #17 on: January 31, 2011, 05:08:05 PM »
I would guess BA is adding $300, LHR is adding $150, and the other $150 is the rest of the trip.
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Re: LAXtraveler's July/August 2011 Trip Planning Thread
« Reply #18 on: January 31, 2011, 05:09:14 PM »
Also, you are staying 20 days between CDG and ZRH.

Not sure what you are planning, but if you are travelling by train you might want to land in AMS and depart in GVA, or FCO, VCE etc.

This europe is not really on its place here (unless you would have 10 little flights within europe).
I would suggest that you stick to asian places, and cover that. You'd save 40k AA a person, if only DME wouldn't be on the list...

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Re: LAXtraveler's July/August 2011 Trip Planning Thread
« Reply #19 on: January 31, 2011, 05:10:56 PM »
Not sure what you are planning, but if you are travelling by train you might want to land in AMS and depart in GVA, or FCO, VCE etc.
Checked that already :)
FCO/VCE or even MXP/VCE would be over-budget.
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